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Surrey man denies sexually assaulting, choking teen

A man accused of sexually assaulting and choking a teenage girl in Surrey in late 2012 denies the allegations, arguing the short-lived physical relationship was entirely consensual.

Andrew Aurie Jefferson, 29, took the stand in his own defence Tuesday morning (April 15), contradicting a portion of testimony given by a 19-year-old woman in B.C. Supreme Court a day earlier.

She told the jury that she had met Jefferson through the online dating site Plenty of Fish and that the two had sex in his Newton basement suite on two separate days in December 2012. While the first occasion went as planned, she claimed that during the second visit, Jefferson attempted to have anal intercourse with her and when she resisted, choked her.

She testified she said "no" more than once, screamed and briefly fell unconscious.

But Jefferson told the jury there was no resistance from the teen during any of their sexual encounters and that he never assaulted or choked her.

"I don't agree that the allegations made happened," said Jefferson under cross-examination from Crown prosecutor Crichton Pike.

Jefferson (left) said both he and the teen smoked crack during their second meeting, prior to having sex, which also contradicted the woman's testimony. She said while she had been drinking that evening, she watched Jefferson smoke some "white stuff" but that she did not partake.

The pair exchanged a few text messages following their final meeting – one of them from Jefferson asking the woman to visit a third time with her friend. However, they never saw one another again.

The teen did not go to police about the alleged incident right away because she didn't know his full name. However, she did file a police statement in February 2013, after speaking with an ex-girlfriend of Jefferson's.

Defence lawyer Eric Warren suggested the teen filed the police complaint out of revenge after speaking to Jefferson's ex-girlfriend.

Pike suggested Jefferson "unfriended" the alleged victim on Facebook – something Jefferson didn't remember doing – so she wouldn't know what his last name was and couldn't tell police.

The teen was 17 at the time of the alleged incident and cannot be identified due to a publication ban.